Jesus was revealed in paul vol 2

JESUS WAS REVEALED IN PAUL VOL 2
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Galatians 1:15 15But when God, who set me apart
from my mother's womb and calledme by his grace,
was pleasedGalatians 1:16 16to reveal his Son in me
so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my
immediate responsewas not to consultany human
being.
JOHN GILL
Verse 15
But when it pleasedGod,.... Here begins his accountof his conversion, and call
to the ministry; all which he ascribes entirely to the sovereigngoodpleasure,
and free grace ofGod:
who separatedme from my mother's womb. By his "mother" is meant, not in
an improper and figurative sense, the Jewishchurch, or the old synagogue,
the mother of all its members; the Jerusalemwhich then was, and was in
bondage with her children; from which bondage, blindness, ignorance,
superstition and bigotry, he was delivered, when calledby grace:nor the
church at Antioch, which is never called a mother church; and though he was
by that church, with Barnabas, separatedfor the work of the ministry, yet not
from it: but by his "mother", without a figure is meant, his real natural
mother, whose name is said to be Theocrita;and this separationfrom her
womb is to be understood either of that distinction made of him in
Providence, as soonas born; which not only took him, and safelybrought him
out of his mother's womb, but ever since took specialcare of him, and saved
and preservedhim to be called;for all the chosenvesselsofsalvationare
distinguished from others, in a providential way; they are more under the
specialcare of Providence than others are, even whilst in a state of
unregeneracy;God's eye of Providence is upon them, his heart is towards

them, he waits upon them to be gracious to them, and many are the
remarkable appearances ofProvidence for them; see Psalm22:9. Or rather
this designs divine predestination, which is a separation, a setting apart of
persons, for such and such purposes, as here of the apostle;and the eternity of
it, it being very early done, from his mother's womb; whilst he was in it,
before he was born, and had done either goodor evil; from the beginning of
time, from the foundation of the world, and before it, even from eternity: all
which phrases express the same thing, and intend either his predestination to
grace and glory, to holiness and happiness, to sanctificationof the Spirit, and
belief of the truth, and to the obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; or
his predestinationto apostleship, to the work of the ministry, to the Gospelof
Christ, to which he was separatedin eternity, and in time; reference seems to
be had to Jeremiah 1:5 or indeed both, and his separationor predestination to
both was owing to the sovereignwill and goodpleasure of God, as was also his
after call:
and calledme by his grace;which follows upon separation, as it does on
predestination, in Romans 8:30 and is to be interpreted either of his call at
conversion, by powerful and efficacious grace;when he was calledout of
Jewishdarkness, blindness, and ignorance, into Gospellight and knowledge;
out of the bondage of sin, Satan, the law, and traditions of the fathers, into the
liberty of Christ; from conversationwith the men of the world, among whom
before he had it, into the fellowshipof Father, Son, and Spirit, angels and
saints; out of himself, and off of a dependence on his own righteousness, to
trust in Christ: in a word, he was called into the grace ofChrist here, into a
participation of all the blessings ofgrace, and to eternal glory by him
hereafter;which call was not of men, but of God, as the efficient cause ofit;
and by his grace, as the moving and procuring cause ofit, and without the use
of means, the word, which is the ordinary way in which God calls his people;
so that it is plain his first light into the Gospel, was not of man, nor so much as
by the means of man: or this call may respecthis callto the ministry, which
was at the same time he was effectuallycalled by grace;and which also was
not of man, nor of himself; he did not thrust himself into this work, but God
calledhim; and that of his mere grace and goodwill, without any respectto
any merits, deserts, or qualifications in him.
Verse 16
To reveal his Son in me,.... This clause stands in connectionwith that in the
preceding verse, "but when it pleasedGod";the revelationof Christ in the
apostle being the mere fruit and effect of God's will and pleasure:some

versions read it "by me", making the apostle to be the instrument and means,
by whom God revealedhis Son Jesus Christ to others, which is a certaintruth,
but this is rather containedin the following clause:others read it "to me", and
which also is true; for Christ was revealedto him in the glory of his person,
the fulness of his grace, the necessity, suitableness,and completeness ofhis
salvation;not objectively in the Gospel, ormerely notionally, speculatively in
the theory of things, but spiritually, experimentally, and savingly; and which
is better expressed, and nearer the original, by "in him"; for he had an
internal discoveryof him as God's salvation, and of his interest in him as
such; Christ was formed in him, his Spirit was put within him, his grace was
implanted in him; he lived and dwelt in his heart by faith, as the Son in his
own house;he was knownunto him, as Christ in him the hope of glory: now
the end of all this, of his separationfrom mother's womb, of his call by the
grace ofGod, of the large revelationof Christ to him, and in him was,
that, says he,
I might preach him among the Heathen; as he did: Christ was the subjectof
his ministry; the things respecting his person, as that he was very God, the
Son of God, God and man in one person the things respecting his office, as
that he is the only MediatorbetweenGod and man, the prophet of the church,
the high priest over the house of God, and King of saints;the doctrines of his
grace, and which concernhis obedience, sufferings, and death; as that peace
and pardon are by his blood, justification by his righteousness, reconciliation
and satisfactionby his sacrifice, andeternal life and complete salvation alone
by him; all which is evangelizing, or preaching goodnews and glad tidings to
sensible sinners: the persons to whom he was to preach these things, and did,
were "the Heathen", or Gentiles; he was a chosenvesselforthis purpose;
Christ, when he calledhim, senthim to them; the work he was to do, and did,
lay chiefly among them; hence he is calledan apostle, and teacherof them:
immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; which some understand of
carnalreason, and that he did not stand reasoning and debating the matter
with himself, whether it would be for his credit and reputation, for his worldly
interest and advantage, to enter upon the ministry of the word; whether it
would be advisable to expose himself, by so doing, to reproach and
persecution;but immediately, as soonas he was calledby grace, and Christ
was revealedin him, he setabout it: others, by "flesh and blood", understand
carnalmen; and others his countrymen the Jews, and those of them that were
his relations, his own flesh; but rather men in generalare intended, any
whatever, and especiallythe apostles;whom, he afterwards says, he had no
conversationwith, upon his first setting out in the ministry. It is usual with the

Jews to call men, in distinction and opposition to God, ‫רשב‬ ‫,םדו‬ "fleshand
blood". Infinite almost are the examples that might be given thereof out of
their writings. See Gill on Matthew 16:17. See Gill on Ephesians 6:12.
Verses 15-19
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Gal . To revealHis Sonin me that I might preach Him.—The revealing of His
Son by me to the Gentiles was impossible, unless He had first revealedHis Son
in me; at first on my conversion, but especiallyat the subsequent revelation
from Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12), whereby I learnt the gospel's independence of
the Mosaic law.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gal
The Imperative Claims of a Divine Commission—
I. Are independent of personalmerit.—"But when it pleasedGod, who
separatedme from my mother's womb, and calledme by His grace" (Gal).
From the beginning the apostle was divinely destined to fulfil his high
vocation. His Hebrew birth and Hellenistic culture combined to prepare him
for his future work. When he developed into a hot persecutorof the Christian
faith he seemedfar awayfrom his life-mission. But a change took place, and it
soonbecame apparent that, not on the ground of any merit of his own, but
because it pleasedGod, the training from his birth was the best possible
preparation for his lofty calling. We cannot see far into the future, or forecast
the issue of our ownplans or of those we form for others.
"There is a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them as we may."
The divine element in our lives becomes more evident as we faithfully do the
duty imposed on us. Josephrecognisedthis when he declaredto his brethren,
"It was not you that sent me hither, but God" (Gen ).
II. Are basedon an unmistakably divine revelation.—"TorevealHis Son in
me, that I might preach Him among the heathen" (Gal ). The dazzling
appearance ofChrist before his eyes, and the summons of His voice addressed
to Saul's bodily ears, formed the specialmode in which it pleasedGodto call
him to the apostleship. But there was also the inward revelationof Christ to
his heart by the Holy Ghost. It was this which wrought in him the great

spiritual change, and inspired him to be a witness for Christ to the Gentiles.
His Judaic prejudices were sweptaway, and he became the champion of a
universal gospel. The same revelation that made Paul a Christian made him
the apostle ofmankind. The true preachercarries within his own spiritually
renovated nature evidence and authority of his divine commission.
"This is what makes him the crowd-drawing preacher,
There's a backgroundof God to eachhard-working feature;
Every word that he speaks has beenfierily furnaced
In a blast of a life which has struggled in earnest."
III. Are superior to the functions of human counsel.—"Iconferrednot with
flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalemto them which were apostles
before me" (Gal ). The counselof the wise and goodis valuable, and
ordinarily should be diligently sought and thoughtfully pondered. But when
God calls, the commissionis beyond either the advice or the opposition of
men. Paul had reacheda stage into which no human authority could lift him,
and from which it could not dislodge him. He might legitimately conferwith
others as to methods of work, but his call to work was imposed upon him by a
powerto which all human counsellors and ecclesiasticalmagnates must
submit. Channing once said: "The teacherto whom are committed the infinite
realities of the spiritual world, the sanctions of eternity, the powers of the life
to come, has instruments to work with which turn to feebleness allother
means of influence."
IV. Stimulate to active service.—"ButI went into Arabia, and returned again
unto Damascus"(Gal). Immediately after his conversionthe history tells us,
"Straightwayhe preachedChrist in the synagogues"(Act 9:20). In Arabia, a
country of the Gentiles, he doubtless preachedthe gospel, as he did before and
after at Damascus, andthus demonstrated the independence of his apostolic
commission. A call to preachdemands immediate response, and impels to
earnestand faithful endeavour. It is said that Whitefield's zealous spirit
exhausted all its energies in preaching, and his full dedicationto God was
honoured by unbounded success. The effectproduced by his sermons was
indescribable, arising in a greatdegree from the most perfectforgetfulness of
self during the solemn moment of declaring the salvationthat is in Christ
Jesus. His evident sincerity impressed every hearer, and is said to have
forcibly struck Lord Chesterfieldwhen he heard him at Lady Huntingdon's.
The preacher, as the ambassadorforChrist, is eagerto declare His message,
and anxious it should be understood and obeyed.

V. Are recognisedby the highest ecclesiasticalauthority.—"Thenafter three
years I went up to Jerusalemto see Peter, and … James the Lord's brother"
(Gal ). The claims of Paul to the apostleship, evidencedby such supernatural
signs and such solid Christian work and patient suffering, were at length
acknowledgedby the chief leaders of the mother Church in Jerusalem. Good
work advertises itself, and sooneror later compels recognition. What an
eventful meeting of the first gospelpioneers, and how momentous the
influence of such an interview and consultation!Though the call of God is
unacknowledged, ridiculed, and opposed, its duties must be faithfully
discharged. The day of ample rewardwill come.
Lessons.—
1. God only canmake the true preacher.
2. A call to preachinvolves suffering and toil.
3. The fruit of diligent and faithful work will certainly appear.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Gal . The Conversionand Vocationof St. Paul.
I. The causes ofSt. Paul's conversion.—
1. The good pleasure of God.
2. His separationfrom the womb, which is an actof God's counselwhereby
He sets men apart to be members of Christ and to be His servants in this or
that office.
3. His vocationby grace—the accomplishmentof both the former in the time
which God had appointed.
II. The manner of his vocation.—"TorevealHis Son in me."
1. By preparation. God humbled and subdued the pride and stubbornness of
his heart and made him tractable and teachable.
2. By instruction.
(1) Propounding unto him the commandment of the gospel, to repent and
believe in Christ.
(2) Offering to him the promise of remission of sins and life everlasting when
he believed.
3. By a real and lively teaching when God made Paul in his heart answerthe
calling. Ministers of Christ must learn Christ as Paul learned Him.
III. The end of Paul's conversion.—To preachChristamong the Gentiles.

1. Christ is the substance or subject-matter of the whole Bible.
2. To preach Christ is:
(1) To teachthe doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, and His offices as King,
Prophet, and Priest.
(2) That faith is an instrument to apprehend and apply Christ.
(3) To certify and reveal to every hearer that it is the will of God to save him
by Christ if he will receive Him.
(4) That he is to apply Christ with His benefits to himself in particular.
3. To preach to the Gentiles:
(1) Because the prophecies of the calling of the Gentiles must be fulfilled.
(2) Because the division betweenthe Jews and Gentiles is abolished.
IV. Paul's obedience to the calling of God (Gal ).—
1. God's word, preachedor written, does not depend on the authority of any
man—no, not on the authority of the apostles themselves.
2. There is no consultationor deliberation to be used at any time touching the
holding or not holding of our religion.
3. Our obedience to God must be without consultation. We must first try what
is the will of God, and then absolutely put it into execution, leaving the issue to
God.
4. Paul goes into Arabia and Damascus,and becomes a teacherto his
professedenemies.—Perkins.
Gal . Conversionas illustrated by that of St. Paul.—In the case ofSt. Paul
there are many circumstances notparalleled in the generalexperience of
Christians; but in its essentialfeatures, in the views with which it was
accompaniedand the effects it produced, it was exactlythe same as every one
must experience before he canenter into the kingdom of God.
I. Its causes.—
1. Paul was chosenby God before his birth to be a vesselof honour. "It
pleasedGod, who separatedme from my mother's womb." Are not all
genuine Christians addressedas "electofGod" or chosenofGod, through
sanctificationof the Spirit, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ? Why should not the real Christian give scope to those emotions
of gratitude which such reflections will inspire?

2. The more immediate cause was the call of divine grace. "And called me by
His grace."There is a generalcall in the gospeladdressedto all men
indiscriminately. There is, in every instance of real conversion, anotherand
inward call, by which the Spirit applies the generaltruth of the gospelto the
heart. By this interior call Christ apprehends, lays hold on the soul, stops it in
its impenitent progress, and causes itto hearHis voice.
II. The means by which conversionis effected.—"To revealHis Son in me."
The principal method which the Spirit adopts in subduing the heart of a
sinner is a spiritual discoveryof Christ. There is an outward revelationof
Christ—in the Scriptures; and an internal, of which the understanding and
the heart are the seat.
1. The Spirit reveals the greatness anddignity of Christ.
2. The transcendent beauty and glory of Christ.
3. The suitableness, fulness, and sufficiency of Christ to supply all our wants
and relieve all our miseries.
III. The effectof conversionon St. Paul.—"Immediately I conferrednot with
flesh and blood." He sethimself without hesitationor demur to discharge the
duties of his heavenly vocation.
1. His compliance with the will of Christ was immediate.
2. Universal and impartial.
3. Constantand persevering.—RobertHall.
Gal . The Qualificationof the True Minister—
I. Begins in an unmistakable revelation of Christ to his own soul.—"To reveal
His Sonin me."
II. Urges him to declare the gospelto the most needy.—"ThatI might preach
Him among the heathen."
III. Raises him above the necessityof mere human authority.—"Immediately
I conferrednot with flesh and blood."
Gal . The Divine Call to the Apostleship.—
1. That extraordinary way whereby the Lord made known His mind to the
penmen of Scripture was so infallible in itself and so evident to those to whom
it came to be no delusion that they were above all doubt, and needednot to
advise with the best of men in order to their confirmation about the reality of
it.

2. The Lord makethsometimes the first piece of public service as hazardous,
uncouth, and unsuccessfulas any wherein He employs them afterwards, that
His ministers may be taught to depend more on God's blessing than on human
probabilities, and that they may give proof of their obedience. Thus it was
with Moses (Exo ), and Jeremiah(Gal 1:19).
3. The apostles were not fixed to any certain charge, as ordinary ministers are.
Their charge was the whole world. They went from place to place as the
necessitiesofpeople required, or as God by His providence and Spirit
directed.—Fergusson.
Gal . Retirement a Preparationfor Work.—"Iwentinto Arabia, and returned
againunto Damascus."
1. Affording opportunity for thought and self-testing.
2. Gives leisure for study and forming plans for future service.
3. Is often the prelude of a busy and prosperous career.
Gal . The Divine Call acknowledged.—
1. That nothing of Peter's supposedsupremacy over Paul and the rest of the
apostles canbe gatheredfrom this place appears from this, that Paul went
first to his work before he came to Peter, and that his business with Peterwas
not to receive ordination from him or to evidence his subjection to him, but
from respect and reverence to give him a friendly visit.
2. It ought to be the endeavour of Christ's ministers to entertain love and
familiarity one with another, as also to make their doing so evident to others,
it being most unseemly for those who preach the gospel ofpeace to others to
live in discord among themselves.
3. As ministers may and ought to meet sometimes together, to evidence and
entertain mutual love and concord, and because ofthat mutual inspection
which they ought to have one of another, so their meetings ought neither to be
so frequent nor of so long continuance as that their flocks suffer prejudice.—
Fergusson.
Preacher's Complete HomileticalCommentary
SERMON:Don’t Mess with the Messenger!SCRIPTURE:Galatians 1:11-
2:10 SPEAKER:MichaelP. Andrus DATE:August 29, 2010

Last Lord’s DayJoshpreached a greatsermon entitled, “Don’t Mess with the
Message!” It was a hard-nosed, intolerant sermon basedupon a hard-nosed,
intolerant passage ofScripture. In essencethe thrust was that anyone who
adds to or subtracts from the Gospelmessage is playing with fire; in fact, he’s
playing with hell-fire.
Today I want to speak to you on a related topic, “Don’t Mess with the
Messenger!” This, too, is going to be a hard-nosed, intolerant sermon basedon
another hard-nosed intolerant passage ofScripture. But right up front I want
to put your mind at ease. Your pastor is not the messengeryoumust not mess
with. I’ll explain who is in a moment.
In both of the churches I have served over the past 35 years, I have had a
layman whom I consideredmy pastor. Pastors needpastors, too, you know.
During my first tenure here at First Free my pastor was a dear man some of
you remember, Gene Nelson. Gene was always there for me–encouragingme,
counseling me, and defending me. He had a favorite saying for anyone who
criticized his pastor, “Touchnot the Lord’s anointed!” He gotit from Psalm
105:15, which reads in the NIV: “Do not touch my anointed ones;do my
prophets no harm.”
Now I greatly appreciatedGene’s solicitous concernfor my welfare, but I
must admit that he probably misinterpreted that Psalm. The anointed ones in
that passagewere ordinary Israelites, not clergy, and the prophets were a
unique group of divine spokesmen. As a young man in my 30's I certainly
didn’t qualify as a prophet. Frankly, while I don’t think pastors should be
picked on, I do believe it is just as legitimate to criticize them as anyone else.
The clergytoday have no inherent authority, nor do we need any. The Word
of God, accuratelytaught, is all the authority we need.
“Don’t mess with messenger” refers to the apostolic messenger. Yousee, Paul
was not just a preacherof the Word of God; he was writing it! He was
delivering revelationdirectly from God that would be authoritative for the
Church down through the centuries. The Holy Spirit was superintending his
writing to keephim from error. Therefore, it was incumbent upon the Church
to accepthis authority and submit to his doctrine.

Over the past two weeks we have been introduced to the factthat there were
teachers in the Galatianchurches, who felt it was their prerogative to reject
Paul’s Gospelof grace in favor of a gospelof their own–a gospelofgrace plus
works–which, according to Paul, is not goodnews at all but bad news.
Now these teachers were smart enoughto realize that if they were to succeed
in weaning Paul’s
2
converts awayfrom his Gospeland attract them to their own, they would have
to challenge his credentials and authority. In other words, if and only if they
could demonstrate that Paul was something less than a divinely appointed
Apostle, could they succeedin undermining his teaching.
And raising doubts about Paul’s credentials as an apostle wasn’tas difficult as
one might think, because Paulwas not one of the Twelve Apostles. In fact, he
once persecutedthe Apostles and their early converts. Paul never met Jesus
during his earthly life, and he didn’t even become a convert to Christianity
until after the crucifixion and resurrection. The false teachers usedall these
facts to insinuate that Paul was less than an Apostle. Furthermore, they
allegedthat the real Apostles (The Twelve)taught a different Gospelmessage
from the one Paul taught!
It is in the context of these vicious personalattacks that Paul shares his own
personalfaith story in Galatians 1:11-2:10. I want you to know, brothers, that
the gospelI preachedis not something that man made up. I did not receive it
from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I receivedit by revelation from
Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how
intensely I persecutedthe church of God and tried to destroy it. I was
advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews ofmy own age and was extremely
zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who setme apart from
birth and calledme by his grace, was pleasedto reveal his Son in me so that I
might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go

up to Jerusalemto see those who were apostles before I was, but I went
immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Thenafterthree
years, I went up to Jerusalemto get acquainted with Peterand stayedwith
him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles–onlyJames, the Lord's
brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. Later I
went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea
that are in Christ. They only heard the report: "The man who formerly
persecutedus is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." And they
praised God because ofme. Fourteenyears later I went up againto
Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response
to a revelation and setbefore them the gospelthat I preach among the
Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemedto be leaders, forfear
that I was running or had run my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was
with me, was compelledto be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This
matter arose becausesome false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on
the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in
to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospelmight remain with you.
As for those who seemedto be important–whatever they were makes no
difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance–thosemen
added nothing to my message.Onthe contrary, they saw that I had been
entrusted with the task of preaching the gospelto the Gentiles, just as Peter
had been to the Jews. ForGod, who was at work in the ministry of Peteras an
apostle to the Jews, was also atwork in my ministry as an
3
apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peterand John, those reputed to be pillars,
gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowshipwhen they recognizedthe
grace givento me. They agreedthat we should go to the Gentiles, and they to
the Jews. All they askedwas that we should continue to remember the poor,
the very thing I was eagerto do.
Here is the question I want us to wrestle with this morning: How does this
testimony of Paul’s spiritual journey fit into the argument of Galatians? We
have already seenthat a group of churches which Paul planted on his first
missionary journey were embroiled in controversy. Once Paulmoved on in his
missionary travels, false teachers infiltrated the churches of Galatia,

spreading the heresy that it is necessaryto keepthe Law in order to be saved.
They agreedwith the Judean teachers quoted in Acts 15:1, “Unless you are
circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses,you cannotbe saved.”
This addition was such a serious perversionof the Gospelthat Paul fired off
this letter to condemn the false teachers and to defend the Gospel.
He also felt compelledto defend his apostleshipagainstthe concertedattacks
of these false teachers. He opens his defense in verses 11 & 12 by saying in
effect, “If you want to challenge my Gospel, you're going to have to challenge
Jesus Himself, because I gotit from Him.” The best way for Paul to prove this
point is to reachback into his past and remind the GalatianChristians of how
God savedhim and how God dealt with him. So, he flashes on the screen
severalpictures from his past as evidence that his apostleshipand his Gospel
were truly from God. He starts with his life B.C.
Paul’s life before Christ (13-14)
Persecutionofthe Church of God. Paul, with his strong Jewishheritage,
originally saw Christianity as a dangerous aberrationthat needed to be
eliminated. From the book of Acts we learn that he imprisoned Christians, he
voted for their execution, he beat them in their houses ofworship, he tortured
them in an effort to get them to blaspheme Christ, and when they fled the
country, he pursued them even on foreign soil. He was in the big leagues as far
as persecutionof the early disciples was concerned.
By the way, when Paul tells us in verse 13 about “how intensely I persecuted
the church of God and tried to destroy it,” the words “the church of God,” are
intended to heighten the enormity of his crime. He persecutedchurches that
belongedto the very God he mistakenly thought he was serving. Christians
are still being persecutedtoday–oftenby people who think they are serving
God when they do it.
Advancement in Judaism (14). While he was persecuting the Church, Paul
was climbing the religious ladder of Judaism. Though still a young man he
was already a member of the Sanhedrin and seemeddestined for significant
leadership among his people. But Paul was like Gueneveerin the legendof
King Arthur. Gueneveer, it says, “nevercaredfor God. She was a good

theologian, but that was all.” That describes Paulin his former life in
Judaism–a goodtheologianbut far from God. He was too consumed by
religious fervor, too busy with religious
4
projects, too involved in imposing his theologicalviews on others. He didn't
have time for God. By the way, friends, that canbe a danger for us, too.
Now at first blush it may seemstrange that Paul should try to defend himself
by talking about his persecutionof the church and his advancementin
Judaism. It almost seems like he is playing right into the hands of his
detractors, agreeing thathis backgroundcontainednothing to generate
confidence. But in fact he is turning their entire argument on its head by
saying, “It is preciselybecause I was the kind of person I have just described–
a persecutorof Christians, and a religious zealot–thatwhat I am now–a
preacherof the Gospel–mustbe a miracle of God. There is no other wayto
accountfor it.”
But even more importantly, this review of Paul’s pre-conversiondays contains
a subtle but devastating coup de grace to the Galatian heretics. Theyare
professing a concernfor the Law which Paul does not have. But Paul, in
effect, says, “I am not ignorant of your Law. There was a time when I was an
absolute fanatic for JewishLaw. I not only followedit; I demanded that
everyone else follow it too. With passionate intensity I once tried to earn God's
favor and approval through the Law. Been there, done that! How absurd for
you to return to what I have abandoned!”
May we learn from Paul's example that religion does not bring people nearer
the truth–more often than not, it keeps them from finding it. Isn’t it
interesting that the most religious people in the Gospels are almostalways the
farthest from the kingdom? That was true with the scribes and the Pharisees
of Jesus’day. It was true with the medieval Catholic church. It is true with
Muslim jihadists today. And it can be true of evangelicals,too.

Many years ago JohnW. Montgomery, former prof at our seminary, TEDS,
wrote a little book entitled, “DamnedThrough the Church”–a shocking title,
but profoundly relevant. It describes the experience of many who have been
lulled to sleepspiritually by putting their faith in religion or in the Church or
in a label. Faith must be placedin a person, the person of Jesus Christ, and
specificallyin His sacrificialdeath.
Having consideredhis former manner of life, Paul now turns to his
conversion.
Paul’s conversion(15-16)
I find verse 15 and the first part of verse 16 to be a fascinating wayto describe
the new birth experience. Paulwrites, “But when God, who setme apart from
birth and calledme by his grace, was pleasedto reveal his Son in me so that I
might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man.” Paul here
describes his actualconversionby means of three phrases:1. God setme
apart from birth. 2. He called me by His grace. 3. He revealedHis Son in me.
5
First, “Godsetme apart from birth.” Let me ask you a question. When did
you become a child of God? The answer, of course, is different for eachof us,
depending upon that day and hour (unknown to some of us, of course)when
we began to trust completely in the death of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
our sins. But you know, while no person actually possesseseternallife until he
believes, eachone’s personalsalvationstory begins long before that. Paul says
God initiated the salvationprocess for him at birth, from his mother's womb.
Actually, he could have gone back even further, like he did in Eph. 1:4, where
he says that God “chose us in Christ before the creationof the world.” For
some people, such an idea is very difficult to accept, becausewords like that
seemto diminish our part in the salvationprocess. Butthat’s exactlywhat

Paul is trying to do. These verses clearlyconfirm that salvationis of the Lord
and not an accidentof birth or culture or environment.
But if God only setPaul apart from birth and didn't actually confront him
with the Gospel, Paulwould not have been saved. God, however, took a
secondsteptoward Paul. Here’s how he puts it: “Godcalledme by His
grace.” Paul's callcame in a most remarkable fashion on the DamascusRoad,
as he was struck with a blinding light and an audible voice from heaven. My
call, on the other hand, came in a most ordinary way when as a little boy of 5,
I was convictedof my sin and sought out my dad to help me deal with a guilty
conscience. He explained to me the plan of salvation. Your call probably came
in a way distinct from Paul’s or mine. The important thing to remember is
that every genuine salvationcall comes from God–no man on his own seeks
for God.
Furthermore, it’s criticalto see that the basis for God's call is always grace–
unmerited favor. Goddoes not look into the future, using His omniscience as a
kind of divine radar to spot those who have a predisposition to believe, and
then call them to be His children. Quite the contrary, the basis for His choice
is found in Himself. Ephesians 1 says, “He chose us according to the kind
intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, whichHe freely
bestowedon us . . .” Grace is the sole explanation as to why any of us are
today numbered among God's children.
And then the third stepoccurred: “GodrevealedHis Son in me so that I
might preach him among the Gentiles.” This was both an outward and an
inward revelationin Paul’s case. GodrevealedHis Son to Paul when he saw
the risen Christ on the Damascus Road. Buteven more important was the
inner illumination of his soul, as God broke down the religious prejudices he
grew up with and opened Paul’s eyes so he could see exactlywho Jesus was–
the Sonof Godand the Saviorof the world. That is what enabled Paul to
become God’s ambassadorto the Gentile world. The point of rehearsing his
conversionis to demonstrate that his salvationand his call to ministry are all
of God.

Having presentedhis pre-conversionway of life, and then his new birth
experience itself, Paul now turns our attention thirdly to his subsequent
spiritual journey.
Paul’s subsequent spiritual journey (16-21)
6
In this sectionPaul seems to have two primary goals. One is to demonstrate
his independence from the Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem. The other goalis to
show that when he eventually did have contactwith the Apostles, they
confirmed the Gospelhe preached rather than contradictedit.
First, he tells us what his spiritual journey did not involve.
What it did not involve.
Consultationwith human advisors. He says in verse 16, “I did not consult any
man.” Paul didn't check with his rabbi to see if there was precedence forhis
kind of conversion. He didn't go to a shrink to make sure this wasn'tsome
kind of an emotionaltrip. He knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he had
met Christ on that Damascus Road.
Nor did he make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem(verse 17). Paul didn't go sit at the
feet of Peter, James, John, and the other Apostles. His point is not that such a
visit wouldn't have been an enviable privilege, but God didn't allow him to do
so, and now Paul is glad he didn't, because it enables him to deny the false
teachers’claimthat he gothis Gospelfrom them but then distorted it.
What his spiritual journey did include was . . .

Fourteenyears of preparation (18-24), starting with (1) a trip to Arabia (17).
For the better part of three years Paul went awayto the desert. While we have
no details concerning this trip, it appears that the purpose of this sabbatical
was meditation, study, and prayer. It's not hard to understand why a little
time awayshould be deemed valuable, for here is a leader in one religion
suddenly called to be a leader in another. He would need a complete
reorientationexperience.
Before he talks to men Paul must talk to God. Some have referred to this as
his seminary career. I can’t help but think some pastors might get more out of
three years in the Arabian desert than three years in most seminaries (Trinity
EvangelicalDivinity Schooland a number of others excepted!). Chuck Colson,
one of the really brilliant thinkers in Christianity today, did his preparation
for ministry in a “gatedcommunity,” a federal prison. I’d sayit was pretty
effective.
Then after his trip to Arabia, (2) Paul returned to Damascus where his
Christian experience had begun (verse 17). This was a courageous thing to do,
for you’ll recallthat the last time he was in Damascus Paulwas a real basket
case (he escapedoverthe city wallby being loweredby his friends in a basket
as he was being soughtby the authorities). Returning three years later was
undoubtedly quite risky, but God had work for him to do there.
Then three years later,i(3) Paul made his first trip to Jerusalemsince his
conversion, but it was brief. In verses 18-20 he explains, “Thenafter three
years, I went up to Jerusalemto get
7
acquainted with Peterand stayedwith him fifteen days. I saw none of the
other apostles–onlyJames, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that
what I am writing you is no lie.” This trip, too, took courage.Paul's former
friends, the Jews, wouldnow be out for his blood, while his former victims,
the Christians, could only be expected to ostracize him due to skepticism
about his new-found faith. In fact, this is exactly what happened. In Acts 9:26

we read, “When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they
were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.”
While in Jerusalemfor those two weeks, Paulstayedwith Peter. Can you
imagine their conversations, withPaul undoubtedly telling Peterof his
conversionon the Damascus Road, andPetertelling Paul about the 3 ½ years
he spent as a disciple of Jesus? But Paul’s primary purpose in mentioning this
visit seems to be that there was no disagreementbetweenhim and Peterabout
the nature of the Gospel. The only other apostle he met was James, the Lord’s
brother. And he goes out of his way to swearthat he is telling the truth.
From Jerusalem, it says in verse 21, (4) Paul took a trip to Syria and Cilicia.
Nothing is known of this trip, but Paul was born in Cilicia in the city of
Tarsus, so perhaps he went there to tell boyhood friends about his new-found
faith. He apparently mentions it to indicate that he kept his distance from
Jerusalem.
Finally, according to Galatians 2:1 (and this is at least14 years after his
conversion), Paul has his first major consultationwith the Apostles in
Jerusalem. It was during this meeting that he finally formally submitted his
views on the Gospelto the Twelve Apostles. But contrary to the insinuations
of the false teachers in Galatia, the result was confirmation, not contradiction
of what he taught.
Confirmation from the Twelve Apostles (2:1-10) Look againat 2:9: “James,
Peterand John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right
hand of fellowship when they recognizedthe grace given to me. They agreed
that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.”
Furthermore, Paul reveals a very interesting historical fact. When he went up
to meet with the Apostles, he took along with him a friend named Titus (2:1).
Now Titus was a Gentile believer and had never been circumcised. If keeping
the law was necessaryfor salvation, surely the Twelve Apostles would have
insisted that Titus be circumcised. But they didn’t, even though there were
some lobbyists for the Mosaic Law at the meeting who tried to force the issue.
Paul says in verse 5, “We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the
truth of the gospelmight remain with you.” To capitulate to these legalists

would have been to compromise the Gospel. Paul was well-knownto make
concessionsto weak Christians but not to phony, hereticalones.
To summarize, Paul's pre-conversioncareerwas one of fanatical law-keeping;
his conversionitselfwas a miracle completely initiated and pulled off by God;
his post-conversionexperience involved almosttotal isolationfrom the Twelve
Apostles during his “seminary” days ; and when
8
he finally had the opportunity to share with the Twelve what God had
revealedto him, they didn’t challenge him but rather confirmed his teaching.
Therefore, his messagewas clearlynot from man, but from God. The false
teachers atGalatia have no more grounds to mess with God’s messengerthan
they had to mess with the message itself.
Now I would like to turn to a question some of you may have been mulling:
So what?
Perhaps this all sounds like much ado about nothing–an ancient argument of
little consequence to us in the 20th century. Why bother? Friends, it is more
relevant than you realize.
1. When God’s apostolic messengerspeaks(i.e. writes), the Church must
listen. The fundamental problem in the church today is that its leaders so
often feel free to adjust the apostolic messageto fit their feelings or
circumstances orculture. We don’t have that right! The faith was once for all
delivered to the saints through the apostles and prophets, according to the
book of Jude.ii
Ten years ago I wrote to a professorat Eden TheologicalSeminaryin St.
Louis, a leading seminary of the United Church of Christ, to ask him why that

denomination felt free to ordain those whose lifestyles are clearly condemned
in Scripture. In a six-page hand-written letter to me, this professorof New
Testamentprotestedthe inference in my letter that he didn’t take Scripture
seriously, I do see Scripture as holy, trustworthy, and absolutely
authoritative; and precisely because Ido, I cannot considerthe Bible to be
inerrant. (Now I have to tell you, I fail to see the logic in that, but he tries to
explain it as he continues). The divine word is dynamic rather than static. In
short, it has changed(he underlines those words); and I conclude, must
continue to change in order to remain faithful. We anticipate that the Holy
Spirit will enable us to interpret faithfully God’s Word for our place and time
(againhe underlines) If there is anything unchanging about God and God’s
Word, it is that God never fails to be loving. (Implication: you’re failing to be
loving when you tell a practicing homosexualhe can’t be a pastor).
Later he writes, “One doesn’t have to deconstructthe Gospels;they fall apart
in your hands.” (Deconstruction, by the way, is the postmodern term for
peeling awaythe sacredness ofScripture and demonstrating that it is a
thoroughly human book). And againhe adds, “My model for disobeying
certain things in the Bible is Jesus himself, whom I also take as the
embodiment of God’s determination to love the whole world graciously. For
me, that is absolutely authoritative, and the Bible tells me so.”
Friends, when people feel free to mess with either the messageorthe
messenger, i.e. whenthey feel free to rejectwhat the apostles and the prophets
have revealedto us as the very Word of God, everything is up for grabs. Right
is calledwrong, wrong is called right. Light is called
9
darkness and darkness calledlight. The Gospelbecomes whateverthe
individual wants it to be.
By the way, if I cantake a rare and brief excursioninto the political realm,
this is exactly what is happening in our day to the U.S. Constitution. There is a
whole schoolof jurisprudence devoted to deconstructing the Constitution,

claiming that is a living document, dynamic rather than static. It doesn’t
matter what the founding fathers meant; the only thing that matters is what
present day judges mean.
Thus rights that Adams and Franklin and Jeffersoncouldnever have
imagined–like abortion on demand or same-sexmarriage–are routinely read
into the Constitution. Or take the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not
delegatedto the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reservedto the States respectively, orto the people.” Judges
routinely pay no attention to that amendment at all, as the Federal
Government continually expands its reach. Friends, we are seeing in the
political realm exactly what we have been experiencing in the spiritual realm.
Both the foundation documents of our nation and the founding documents of
our faith are being shredded before our eyes. We’d better wake up.
Now there are two other “so what’s” I want to address very briefly that focus
not on the controversyin Galatia but on Paul’s testimony itself.
2. When a sinful person is truly converted, the change is radical. (22,23)Paul’s
reputation was once so bad that when the Judean churches heard of his
conversion, they didn’t know what to do with the report (verse 22), “The man
who formerly persecutedus is now preaching the faith he once tried to
destroy.” They were stunned. This was not the same man.
Friends, Godis still in the business of revolutionizing people’s lives. I know a
serialadulterer who surrendered to Christ and God is in the process of
changing him into a devoted family man. I know a woman who was once a
greedy materialistwho is today a generous person, concernedaboutthe
welfare of others, againbecause Christ has captured her. I know a proud
intellectual who used to insist on his own views, but once he came to realize
that Jesus died for him, there is a new humility and a new openness to the
views of others.
The Scripture tells us that “If any person is in Christ he is a new creation.”
That transformation involves radical surgery and should result in radical
change. I'm not suggesting thatthe radicalchange will occurovernight and
that the day after one's conversionhe will immediately be a spiritual dynamo.

As a matter of fact, it took at least14 years after his conversionbefore Paul
was ready to take on his life’s work for God. Leadership requires character
and charactertakes times to develop. But if we cannotpoint to a “before”
and“after” in our lives, how is the world to see that Christ makes a
difference?
3. When a sinful person is transformed, God deserves allthe glory. (24)
Whether you have a notorious past or you receivedChrist at age 5, God
deserves allthe glory. Paul says in the lastverse of chapter1: “Theypraised
God because ofme,” i.e. because ofwhat has happened to
10
him. Could that be said of you and me today? Are people glorifying God
because of the remarkable change that has takenplace in our lives? Or are
they saying, “If that's what becoming a Christian is all about, what’s the
point?” May God help eachof us to experience the new creationHe has
planned for us so that He might be glorified. ____________
i. Paul may mean three years after his
conversion.
ii. There may be those in the church today who have the gift of apostle or
prophet, but I do not believe there are any with the office of apostle or
prophet. Even those who had the office, like Peteror Paul, were not
themselves infallible (as we will clearlysee next week). Only the Scripture,
which God used them to reveal, is infallible.
RICH CATHERS
Galatians 1:10-17
Sunday Evening Service
April 3, 2005

Introduction
Paul is writing to a group of churches which he had helped to establish.
After having establishedthese churches, there were a group of teachers called
“Judaizers” who came in and began spreading their own doctrines.
The Judaizers felt that a Gentile couldn’t really be savedapart from first
becoming a Jew. They taught that after a person came to Jesus, they would
have to then be circumcised, and begin to follow the Law of Moses.
To those who would teacha perversion of the gospel, Pauldid not mince his
words:
(Gal 1:9 NKJV) As we have said before, so now I sayagain, if anyone
preaches any other gospelto you than what you have received, let him be
accursed.
:10 Fordo I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? Forif I
still pleasedmen, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
persuade – peitho – persuade;be persuaded; to listen to, obey, yield to,
comply with
Perhaps it would be better to say, “Fordo I now comply with men, or God”
It’s possible that Paul has been accusedoftoning down his messagein order
to please people. Paul taught that men were savedonly by grace. The
accusationcouldbe made that Paul should have preacheda tougher gospelby
telling people that they also had to be circumcisedand follow the Law of
Moses. But Paul stuck by his guns and preached grace.
pleased– imperfect tense, “Forif I yet were continually pleasing men, I would
not be a bondservant of Christ.
Lesson
Be careful about living to please people rather than God.
It sounds to me that if I am seeking to please people, I may not be at all
pleasing to God.
It’s not that you have to be obnoxious to people to please God. And it’s not
that you can’t both be pleasing to people and be pleasing to God.
The issue is who are you trying to please? Whoseapprovalare you seeking
first? If you are seeking man’s approval before God, you are in trouble.
Pleasing people canget you into trouble.
Illustration:

An old fable that has been passeddown for generations tells about an elderly
man who was traveling with a boy and a donkey. As they walkedthrough a
village, the man was leading the donkey and the boy was walking behind. The
townspeople saidthe old man was a fool for not riding, so to please them he
climbed up on the animal's back. When they came to the next village, the
people saidthe old man was cruel to let the child walk while he enjoyed the
ride. So, to please them, he got off and set the boy on the animal's back and
continued on his way. In the third village, people accusedthe child of being
lazy for making the old man walk, and the suggestionwas made that they both
ride. So the man climbed on and they set off again. In the fourth village, the
townspeople were indignant at the cruelty to the donkey because he was being
forcedto carry two people. The frustrated man was last seencarrying the
donkey down the road.
We can't please everybody, and if we try we end up carrying a heavy burden.
Well- meaning Christians may offer us advice, and much of it is valuable. But
when we try to do everything other believers want us to do, we can easily
become frustrated and confused. Life it even worse when the people we’re
trying to please are not even Christians.
Lesson
Know who you work for
We work for Jesus. We are His “bondservant”.
(Col 3:22-24 NKJV) Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according
to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart,
fearing God. {23} And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not
to men, {24} knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the
inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Please yourreal Master.
When Josephhad been takenas a prisoner and sold into slavery into Egypt,
he became the servant of a man named Potiphar. Even though Joseph
“served” Potiphar, Josephservedthe Lord first, and Potiphar second.
When Josephwas face with the temptation of Potiphar’s wife asking him to go
to bed with her, he was facedwith a choice of who to serve.
(Gen 39:8-9 NKJV) But he refused and saidto his master's wife, "Look, my
master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all
that he has to my hand. {9} "There is no one greaterin this house than I, nor
has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How
then can I do this greatwickedness, andsin againstGod?"

Josephknew going in to the temptation that His Masterwas watching. He
knew who He served.
(Rom 6:16 NKJV) Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves
slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whomyou obey, whether of sin
leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
You can tell who your Masteris by whose orders you obey.
:11-12 The source of Paul's gospel
:11 But I make known to you, brethren,
KJV – “certify”
:11 that the gospelwhich was preachedby me is not according to man.
One of the first accusations thatwere leveled at Paul by the Judaizers was
that he had cookedup some kind of kookyreligion.
They thought he had just made all this stuff up.
:12 ForI neither receivedit from man, nor was I taught it,
Paul is denying that humans had anything to do with it.
:12 but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Though there were probably other times as well, we know from Paul’s
accountof his conversionthat Jesus spoke to him and taught him:
(Acts 26:13-18 NKJV) "atmidday, O king, along the road I saw a light from
heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed
with me. {14} "And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice
speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick againstthe goads.'{15}"So I said,
'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, whomyou are persecuting.
{16} 'But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appearedto you for this
purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you
have seenand of the things which I will yet revealto you. {17} 'I will deliver
you from the Jewishpeople, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send
you, {18} 'to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and
from the powerof Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness ofsins and
an inheritance among those who are sanctifiedby faith in Me.'
Jesus told Paul that:
Jesus was sending Paul to the Gentiles (shock, horror!) (vs.17)
Salvationcomes by faith in Jesus (vs.18)

Lesson
Don't underestimate God's ability to teachyou.
Paul’s message wasn’tjust a revelationfrom God, but one that was also
checkedand approved later by the apostles. He wasn’t just a loose cannon
coming up with strange doctrines.
But Paul found out that the things that Jesus Christ had taught him were
indeed the truth.
Jesus said,
(John 14:26 NKJV) "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Fatherwill
send in My name, He will teachyou all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.
John wrote,
(1 John 2:27 NKJV) But the anointing (the Holy Spirit) which you have
receivedfrom Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you;
but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is
not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Some groups will saythat you can’t know the truth unless you’re constantly
plugged in to them, listening to their teachings and reading their books. The
Jehovah’Witnesses will tell their converts that if they stop reading the
“Awake” magazine that they will go into darkness. The truth is that if a
person stopped reading their literature, they’d never come up with the
strange ideas that the Watchtowersocietypromotes on their own.
I am not afraid of a new believer simply reading his Bible and letting God
teachhim.
God can teachyou.
:13-17 Paul's conversion
:13 Foryou have heard of my former conduct in Judaism,
He’s going to talk a bit here about his life before he came to believe in Jesus.
:13 how I persecutedthe church of God beyond measure
Saul had been very zealous in persecuting the early church.
He had been a part of the persecutionthat startedwith the stoning of Stephen.
(Acts 8:1 NKJV) Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great
persecutionarose againstthe church which was at Jerusalem;and they were

all scatteredthroughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the
apostles.
He went around, having people thrown into prison.
(Acts 8:3 NKJV) As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every
house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
When he met Jesus, he was on his way to Damascus to bring back more
traitors to Judaism.
(Acts 9:1-2 NKJV) Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder againstthe
disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest {2} and askedletters from him to
the synagoguesofDamascus,so that if he found any who were of the Way,
whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
:13 and tried to destroyit.
He apparently had even been involved in putting people to death.
(Acts 22:4 NKJV) "I persecutedthis Way to the death, binding and
delivering into prisons both men and women,
Lesson
Saul was not a very nice guy!
He was kind of like a budding Adolph Hitler to the early church.
God can save the most unlikely people!
I often hear people saythat this personor that personwould make a good
Christian.
They are such a nice person, that God could really use them.
But what tickles God’s fancy the most, is saving the people we leastthink
would come to the Lord.
Think about some of the people you know, especiallythose who are the most
antagonistic againstChristianity.
Do you realize that they could be next?
:14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my
own nation,
He was tops in his class atJewish-ness school.
:14 being more exceedinglyzealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Paul had quite a resume as a Jew:

He was born a Jew, and was educatedby the greatrabbi Gamalielhimself
(Acts 22:3)
He was in fact a Pharisee, the strict, legalistic sectof Judaism (Acts 26:5)
Paul had plenty of reasons to boastas a Jew:
(Phil 3:4-6 NKJV) though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone
else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:{5} circumcisedthe
eighth day, of the stock ofIsrael, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews;concerning the law, a Pharisee;{6} concerning zeal, persecuting the
church; concerning the righteousness whichis in the law, blameless.
Lesson
Paul was a goodJew
It’s important for Paul to be telling these deceivedGalatianchurches just
what kind of background he himself had in Judaism.
The Judaizers are trying to make a big stink about people needing to become
Jews in order to be saved.
Paul is going to make it clearthat he’s pretty much of an expert when it comes
to Judaism. He knows what he’s talking about.
:15 But when it pleasedGod,
eudokeo - it seems goodto one, is one's goodpleasure
I like how Paul describes his salvation.
He realizes what a wretched sinner he was. And yet God’s whole attitude
toward it was that it “pleased” God.
God is not “reluctantly” saving people. He’s gladly, happily, doing it.
In fact, all of heaven rejoices
(Luke 15:7 NKJV) "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who
need no repentance.
:15 who separatedme from my mother's womb
Paul recognizedGod's sovereignplan on his life. He knew that God had
picked him out before he was even born.
Jeremiahalso expressedthis same thing.
(Jer 1:5 NKJV) "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you
were born I sanctifiedyou; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
Lesson

Don't forget God's plan for your life!
God has long establishedplans for our lives:
(Isa 46:9-10 NKJV) Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and
there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, {10} Declaring the end
from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, 'My counselshall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,'
(Eph 2:10 NKJV) For we are His workmanship, createdin Christ Jesus for
goodworks, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
:15 and called me through His grace,
Paul wasn’t calledto follow Jesus becausehe had somehow earnedthe right to
be saved.
Paul was calledto follow Jesus only because ofGod’s grace, only because God
chose to show His love to Paul.
This is what the whole letter is about - GRACE!
Our salvation, and our continuing relationship with God is not basedon our
works, but upon what God does for us.
:16 to revealHis Son in me,
This is what happens in salvation.
Jesus Christ is formed inside of you!
(Col 1:27 NKJV) To them God willed to make knownwhat are the riches of
the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles:which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory.
:16 that I might preachHim among the Gentiles,
You have to know that this is an extremely distasteful thought to a Jew,
especiallya Pharisee. To the Pharisee, the Gentiles were only made by God as
fuel for the fires of hell.
:16 I did not immediately conferwith flesh and blood,
When Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus,he was blinded, and had
initially been brought into the city of Damascus.
It was there that he was healed by Ananias, and also baptized by Ananias.
But after that, Paul had to leave Damascus whenword got out what had
happened to him.
He had to be let down in a basketthrough a hole in the wall.
It's at this point that Paul starts to think about all that has happened to him.

And this was suchan incredible thing, to think that Godwould use him to
preach to the "heathen", that he went awayto think about it.
He didn't go ask his friends for their opinions, or to go and apply to the
apostle's schooloftheology.
:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalemto those who were apostles before me;
Paul after his conversiondidn't go to the apostles in Jerusalemto learn or "be
ordained" by them.
Paul was an apostle because JesusChristhad chosen him, not because he had
some magicalceremonydone by the apostles that somehow transferred his
apostolic authority.
Lesson
Authority comes from God, not man.
This is one of the fallacies ofthe Catholic, and even the Mormon churches.
They both feel that they have some kind of “authority” that was passeddown
from one apostle to the next.
The Catholic church claims to be the only church that traces it’s authority
back to Peter, the first pope.
The Mormon church, falling into the same assumption that authority is
passedon from man, claims that there was a break in the line of authority,
which was restoredby JosephSmith, after God gave him back this authority.
And then the Mormon church has continued on with this line.
But both err.
Authority is given by God.
The best man cando is recognize that it’s there.
Lesson
If you're looking for authority, do it God's way!
It’s not uncommon for someone to want the kind of authority a pastor or
elder has in a church.
And it’s common for people to kind of demand that you give it to them.
Or they think that if they could just have you lay hands on them, that you’d
get it too.
The Bible says:
(1 Pet 5:6 NKJV) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of
God, that He may exalt you in due time,

God’s way is not to be seeking authority, but to be seeking humility.
:17 but I went to Arabia, and returned againto Damascus.
Arabia – this is a very vague description of where he went. It could include
the area outside of Damascus in Syria, all the way down into the Arabian
peninsula. The point was that he didn’t go to Jerusalemfirst. He didn’t go to
where there was an apostle first. He went to be alone first.
Some commentators feel that in Acts 9:22-23, that what seems to be a long
stay in Damascus was actuallytwo stays in Damascus, brokenup by a trip to
Arabia, as given here.
So Paul went away into the wilderness for a while to be by himself and think
over what had happened to him.
Galatians 1:13-17 "God's Gracious Plan"
(PastorDrew Worthen, Double EdgedSword Biblical Resources)
Last week we delved into the problem which had developedin Galatia which
involved some Jews who claimed to be Christians and yet were introducing
false teachings regarding the gospelof Jesus Christ.
They had actually made the claim that to be a true Christian one needed to
not only embrace the redemptive work of the JewishMessiahJesus, but they
must also adhere to the same laws Jesus kept during His life, if they were to be
saved.
But Paul’s point is that to change any aspectof the grace gospelby adding the
law or some form of goodwork to obtain salvation is another gospel, whichis
really no gospelatall.
And then he goes so far as to say that anyone preaching such a false gospel
will suffer the eternalconsequencesofbelieving that false gospel.
GAL 1:8 "But even if we or an angelfrom heaven should preacha gospel
other than the one we preachedto you, let him be eternally condemned!

9 As we have already said, so now I say again:If anybody is preaching to you
a gospelother than what you accepted, lethim be eternally condemned!"
To suggestthat it makes no difference what messagewe give to the world
should be laid to rest in this passage. ButPaul also stressesthatthere is a very
goodreasonhe is preaching the message he does;it was a messagewhichis
divine in origin.
In other words, it was not a messagewhich was devisedby men because the
messagecame from the messengerwho came from heaven.
JOH 6:37 "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoevercomes
to me I will never drive away.
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of
him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he
has given me, but raise them up at the last day."
This messageof Paul was given to him from the bread of life who came down
from heaven. At this point in history there was no messagelike this. All other
messages encouragedmen to work their wayto heaventhrough some form of
appeasing their godor gods. This message fromPaul was unique, because the
Son of God is the unique Savior of the world.
GAL 1:11 "I want you to know, brothers, that the gospelI preachedis not
something that man made up.
12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I receivedit
by revelation from Jesus Christ."
Paul was minding his own business on the road to Damascusas he was
engagedin trying to destroy the church of Jesus Christ. And as Paul writes
this letter to the Galatians he is pointing out how, if he had not been struck
down by the risen Christ there on that road, his message wouldhave been the
same messagehe was giving to the JewishChristians he was trying to destroy,
which was embrace Abraham your father and keepthe law of Moses.
Paul is using a bit of logic here as he explains that if what he encounteredon
the road to Damascus was some mere dream, or his imagination, or even some
hallucination, he would have workedthrough that and resumed his campaign
to destroy the Christian church.
But what he encounteredwas a real person. It was the personof Jesus Christ
as our Lord revealedHimself to Paul and also revealedthe hope found only in
the risen Christ. To put it another way, Paul met God there on that road, and

he recognizedHim for who He was, the Son of God sent from the Father to
fulfill all the Messianic prophecies Paulhad read in his own O.T. Scriptures.
There is no other explanation for this zealot Pharisee doing a 180 degree turn,
unless what he encounteredwas the real thing as the Lord turned his heart.
And it’s in this next portion of this letter that Paul takes the time to put his
former life into perspective for these Galatians for this very reason;to
convince them that what he first preached to them was the message he now
gave his life for.
GAL 1:13 "Foryou have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how
intensely I persecutedthe church of God and tried to destroy it.
14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews ofmy own age and was
extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers."
What Paul is doing here is what you and I have been called upon at some
point in our Christian lives to do, and that is to give a personaltestimony of
where we were and where we are now, and why.
His personaltestimony is rather dramatic. It was after the death of Stephen,
of which Paul was a part, at leastin condoning it, that Paul, then known as
Saul, being named after the first king of Israel, begins his conquestof the
church of Christ. We read about it first in the book of Acts.
ACT 8:3 "But Saul beganto destroy the church. Going from house to house,
he draggedoff men and womenand put them in prison."
In contrasting his former life to the church in Philippi Paul wrote this.
PHI 3:3 "For it is we [true Christians] who are the circumcision, we who
worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no
confidence in the flesh -
4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he
has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 circumcisedon the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness,faultless.
7 But whateverwas to my profit I now considerloss for the sake ofChrist."
Of course, the profit to Saul in those days as a Pharisee was that he had status
and powerin Israel. He was lookedup to and certainly benefited in some
financial ways. But for Saul to gain the whole world and lose his soulwas no
profit at all as he now understood that his former life was a life which only

promised destruction. And so, "whateverwas to his profit he now considers
loss for the sake ofChrist."
But there really is no loss in the eternal sense for Paul as he compares his
former life with what he now possesses.
GAL 1:14 "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age
and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers."
The NASB puts it this way. "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my
contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my
ancestraltraditions."
Here Paul touches on his time in training. To be a Pharisee a young Jew went
through extensive schooling and training. And what seems to be the case here
is that Paul was at the head of his class. And not just at the head of his class
regarding his grades, but at the head of his class in attitude.
Few of his contemporaries couldhave been more zealous for the traditions of
his ancestorsthan Paul. In fact, the Greek wordin our text is where we get
our English word zealot. It is the word zelotes which means one burning with
zeal, a zealot.
But notice the adjective he puts before this word in our text. He refers to
himself as extremely zealous. This is no mere hyperbole. This is not an
exaggeration. Paulknew himself and he knew that his former life as a
Pharisee was one of dedicationand devotion to God as he understood Him. He
was a zealot.
And by the way, this is one reasonfor our confidence in what Paul says
regarding Christ and the gospelour Lord gave him on the road to Damascus.
By using this word zelotes he is saying that nothing short of an encounterwith
the risen Christ would deter him from his mission to destroy the church.
This is why we know that what we believe is true. It’s not some fabrication in
the mind of Saul. It’s not some misunderstanding of the Scriptures Saul
finally realizedand correctedon his own. He was not looking to amend his
thinking. In his own mind he was correctin taking the path he did in
persecuting the church.
In fact, secularscholars cannotlook atthe life of Paul and conclude anything
but that he had a realencounter with the person of Christ. They may try, but
the facts of Paul’s life will not allow this. You have to reinvent history to do
this.

No one will give their life for a lie. And if Paul and the other apostles were
simply trying to create a new religion based on a lie then they were not good
people, they were devious, evil and corrupt men who have deceivedthe world.
If you have gottenDave Hunt’s latestnewsletter, the BereanCall, he
addresses this issue of deception by the apostles as he writes about how
"religious" scholarshave determined that Paul and the other apostles were
not really writing about historicalfacts but were writing in metaphors
regarding goodand evil.
In other words, when they wrote about the miracles of Jesus or His
resurrectionthey were lying. When they wrote about the reasonHe came into
this world to redeem men, they were lying. These were just stories to
propagate a new religion which was basedon the made up teachings of these
apostles.
But Dave Hunt rightly points out that "these allegedscholarsare saying that
indeed the apostles were liars, but that what they taught with their lives was
so goodthat it has changedthe world for the better. It makes no sense. How
could lies possibly be the foundation for the greatestinfluence for good in all
of history?"
And Paul is saying the same thing to these Galatians. How could my life turn
around in the twinkling of an eye unless what happened to me was true? How
could I go from persecuting the church one day, and the next day be a
champion for Christ?
All of this is tied back to his statement, "I am astonishedthat you are so
quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are
turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospelat all." (GAL 1:6-7)
Why is Paul giving his life for the gospelif it’s a false gospel? There is only
one true gospeland that’s the gospelJesus Christgave Paul on that famous
day on the way to Damascus.
Everything else pales in comparisonto the eternaltruth that the Messiah
came to save sinful men, of whom Paul saw himself as the greatestsinner,
preciselybecause he did persecute the church of Christ. But this is where
grace canarrestany sinner and bring hope where there was only destruction.
In fact, this was the messagelate in Paul’s life as he was writing to Timothy.
Even after years of being in the ministry and serving the Lord Jesus faithfully,
Paul never forgot the grace that was given to him in Christ Jesus, orhow he
was a sinner saved by grace.

1TI 1:15 "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst.
16 But for that very reasonI was shownmercy so that in me, the worstof
sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for
those who would believe on him and receive eternallife.
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and
glory for ever and ever. Amen."
Jesus Christ and His message ofhope was the only thing that kept Paul going,
and for anyone, including professing Christians in Galatia, to try and destroy
man’s only hope for salvationby preaching a different message fromthe one
Jesus delivered is to doom mankind for ever.
Paul would not allow them to trample on the grace ofGod as he describes it in
his ownlife in our text.
GAL 1:15 "But when God, who setme apart from birth and calledme by his
grace, was pleased
16 to revealhis Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I
did not consult any man,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalemto see those who were apostles before I was,
but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus."
This sectionagainexplains how Paul’s message wasnot given to him by the
other apostles. It couldn’t have been since he did not go up to Jerusalemafter
his salvation, which leaves only a couple of other explanations: he was either
given this messagethrough Annanias or the other disciples in Damascus.
But under the circumstances,prior to Christ striking Paul down, no one was
willing to sit Saul down and explain the gospel. He was going to persecute
anyone who admitted they believed on Jesus Christ. But notice verse 15. Paul
points out a couple of truths which revealthe wayin which God works in the
lives of people.
Number one, he was calledby grace. We’ve discussedthis before but it’s
always worth noting again. Grace is commonly defined as an undeserved gift.
And this is certainly true. But there is a side to grace whichgoes to the heart
of God Himself. After all He is not simply doling out free gifts contrary to His
better judgment, especiallywhen no one deserves sucha gift.
The word for grace that Paul uses here gives us a glimpse into the heart of
God. It’s the word charis in Greek, and it means that which affords joy,
pleasure, or delight. The only reasonthat Godextends grace is because when

He does so for you and me it’s because He delights and takes greatpleasure in
doing so.
Imagine having the means and the ability to do something nice for someone
and being so excited about it that you just can’t wait to spring this surprise on
someone you love. In a similar way God is so excitedabout giving us this free
gift that even the angels in heavenrejoice over one sinner who comes to
Christ. They rejoice because Godrejoices.
His love for us is just too awesome to fully comprehend. And yet Paul does
give us a glimpse into this love when he wrote to the Romans.
ROM 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be
savedfrom God's wrath through him!
10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciledto him through
the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shallwe be
savedthrough his life!
11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in Godthrough our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have now receivedreconciliation."
Jesus put it this way.
JOH 15:12 "My command is this: Love eachother as I have loved you.
13 Greaterlove has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
Peteralso understood this unbelievable grace which was birthed in love and is
the messagethathe also gave the world.
1PE 3:18 "ForChrist died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made
alive by the Spirit..."
But this grace of God is also seenin the means by which He calls people to
Himself. Notice that Paul says in verse 15 that God set him apart from birth.
This is an expressionwhich is not to be takenin its most strict theological
sense.
In other words, in one sense Goddid not choose Paulwhile he was in his
mother’s womb. We know this to be true because Godhas chosenevery single
person who comes to Christ before the creationof the world, which means
from all of eternity. Paul addresses this in the letter to the Ephesians.

EPH 1:4 "Forhe chose us in him before the creationof the world to be holy
and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in
accordancewith his pleasure and will -
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, whichhe has freely given us in the One he
loves."
And so, when Paul says that he was setapart from birth this is a tender way of
saying that in time the Lord had already planned on using Paulto His glory
despite the fact that Paul would grow up and leave his mother and father and
be a persecutorof the church.
This is also another way of saying that despite what Paul would choose to do
from the time of his birth, God had a different plan for his life. But from a
theologicalstandpoint it is clearthat God did His choosing from eternity past.
He knew you and me in one sense before this world was ever createdsince we
were chosenin Christ before the foundations of the world.
And yet, despite how and when God does His choosing, He doesn’teliminate
the means to bringing us into the Kingdom. For example, no one comes into
the kingdom without hearing the message ofthe gospeland responding to it.
We’re told that "faith comes from hearing the message,and the message is
heard through the word of Christ." (ROM 10:17)
In Paul’s case he heard the messageofthe word of Christ from Christ
Himself, but he heard it none the less and then responded by faith. The other
aspectof this salvation is that people must believe on the messageofChrist.
God does not believe for us.
And so, there is a sense in which God saves, but man must do the responding.
This goes into the whole issue of God’s sovereigntyin doing the choosing, but
never negates the responsibility for all men to repent and believe on Jesus
Christ. No one is excusedsimply because they saythey weren’t chosen.
ACT 17:30 "In the pastGod overlookedsuchignorance, but now he
commands all people everywhere to repent."
When Paul preached the gospelhe didn’t limit it to those he thought might be
chosenof God. He gave the message to everyone and expectedthem to
respond in faith.
ACT 20:21 "I have declaredto both Jews and Greeks thatthey must turn to
God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus."
This salvationis meant to be taken to all men by God’s design.

TIT 2:11 "Forthe grace of God that brings salvationhas appearedto all
men."
And it has appearedto all men because Goddesires that none would perish.
2PE 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand
slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone
to come to repentance."
The only reasonpeople perish is not because they were not chosen. They
perish because they are sinners deserving God’s wrath. That’s where all of us
were, and Paul points this out when writing to the Thessalonians.
2TH 2:9 "The coming of the lawless one will be in accordancewith the work
of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
10 and in every sortof evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved."
They will not be able to blame their judgment on Satan because he deceived
them. They won’t be able to blame it on God because He didn’t choose them.
People perish for only one reason;they will not submit to the Creatorwho
loved them so much that He sent His only begottenSon into this world, so that
whoeverbelieves on Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
I’m not suggesting that any human can reconcile the free will of man, and the
Sovereignchoice ofGod. But the Scriptures do teachthat the Lord is not
responsible for man’s choice to rebel againsta holy God. That was seen
clearly in the garden, where two people createdperfect without a sin nature
did just that.
Paul’s point here in our text is not to lay the foundation for a discussionon
man’s free will and the Sovereignchoice ofGod. He is simply noting that
despite what direction Paul had made for himself, God had plans to intervene
to use Paul for the glory of God in such a way that he would be an apostle to
the Gentile world.
And believe me Paul isn’t complaining that God stepped in and put him on a
path which led to life through Christ. And this is why he’s so upset with these
Galatians. Theytoo have receivedthe same grace and love and salvation
through Jesus Christ and yet they feel compelledthrough the false teachings
of these Judaizers to change it into a false gospel.
How can anyone change perfection? And yet, every cult in the world today is
attempting to do just that with their prophets and prophetesses who claimto
have a new revelationfrom God and a new a improved way to attain and keep
this salvation.

We need to strive to make sure that the gospelwe give to people is the real
message, but more than that we need to strive to show the world through our
actions that we have the realmessage ofhope.
There is nothing more disconcerting than to claim that we have believed the
messageofthe gospeland yet not live according to the grace that was given to
us through Christ, or to add something to the message.
This was the message Paulgave to the Corinthians when he said that they
have receiveda heavenly message found in the gospeland yet their lives
demonstrated worldliness.
1CO 3:1 "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly -mere
infants in Christ.
2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you
are still not ready.
3 You are still worldly. Forsince there is jealousyand quarreling among you,
are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?"
We have been given life through the life giving messageofChrist. We have
claimed Christ as our Lord and Savior. Maywe always live to His honor and
glory and defend the gospel, not only in the waywe teachpeople the truth in
love, but also defend the truth in the way we live before the world.
We may be in the world, but we are not of this world. And by that same grace
which brought us salvationwe can also be those faithful witnesses forJesus
Christ. Paul puts this grace and salvationinto perspective when writing to the
Ephesians.
EPH 2:4 "But because ofhis great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is
by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raisedus up with Christ and seatedus with him in the heavenly
realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of
his grace, expressedin his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."
2CO 13:14 "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the fellowshipof the Holy Spirit be with you all."

PHIL NEWTON
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
GALATIANS 1:11-17
FEBRUARY15, 1998
This year's Winter Olympic Games has produced its normal share of
interesting stories: a Kenyan cross-country skier, the perennial Jamaican
bobsled team, remarkable come-backsfrom careershattering injuries, a
Bosnianluger with scars from bullet holes in his country's civil conflict, gold-
medal sized crashes in downhill skiing. Beneathall of these and many other
stories lurks the question of why someone decides to pursue Olympic fame.
Eachathlete has to have some kind of determination and drive to achieve the
high level of sporting accomplishment. The Olympic Games did not
mysteriously lay a hand upon these athletes at birth and drag them kicking
and screaming into the Nagano games. Instead, atsome point in their lives,
these athletes thought-through on the glory of the Olympics and committed
themselves to all of the grueling work required to put them into the spotlight.
This scenario in no wayresembles the testimony of the Apostle Paul. As we
read his testimony we do not find a man considering the claims of
Christianity, then in a decisive moment, he switches the gears oflife and
pursues the Christian faith. After he came to faith in Christ, he certainly
exercisedthe kind of discipline and determination required of Olympians.
But not before he came to faith in Christ. Instead, Paul's testimony is one of
God's grace from start to finish, so that all of the glory in salvationbelongs to
the Lord God.
Paul was not engagedin trifling issues as he continued his defense of his
apostleship, which was only for the purpose of defending the gospelof grace in
Christ. He becomes an autobiographicalwriter in this text through most of
the secondchapterof Galatians. Paultended to shy awayfrom such personal
comments on his life. But this situation calledfor explanations, for the truth
of the gospelwas eroding before the eyes of the Galatianchurch.
Out of the framework of his own testimony, Paul explains the wonders of the
revelation of Jesus Christin the gospel. He shows that salvationmust come by

means of God's grace, ratherthan human ingenuity. He shows us that the
living God intrudes in the midst of our darkness to bring us into His saving
light.
Do you know the reality of the saving work of which Paul speaks? Let's probe
this testimony of the revelation of Jesus Christ, that we might understand
more of the wonders of God's grace shownto us in Christ.
I. A Sure Gospel
The question of which gospelis the true gospeltrapped the Galatians. They
had first heard the gospeland receivedit from the ministry of Paul and
Barnabas on their first missionary journey. There certainly seemedto be the
evidence of true faith in Christ. But not too long down the road, Paul received
reports that a group of false apostles, whichwe call"Judaizers," had been
trying to add to the solitary work of Christ and faith in Him alone for
salvation. They told this group of Gentile believers that Jesus had begun the
work but they had to finish it through their adherence to the law, particularly
to circumcision. Now confusionreigned. Paul was not going to turn these
young converts overto the Judaizers and their heresy. So in the face of
attacks upon his apostolic authority and ultimately, attacks upon the veracity
of the gospelwhich Paul preached, he opens his heart to explain why the
gospelhe preaches is indeed the true gospelof Jesus Christ.
1. Notsecond-hand
They first needed to understand that Paul was not dealing in second-hand
knowledge whenproclaiming the gospel. "ForI would have you know,
brethren, that the gospelwhich was preachedby me is not according to man.
For I neither receivedit from man, nor was I taught it." Paul is certainly not
denigrating people being taught the gospel. Forthat was exactly what he had
done with the Galatians. Butthe issue he had to clarify was that the authority
of his messagecame directly from the Lord and not from man.
The idea of receivedmeans the 'communication of some authorized teaching
from another'. It implied a messagethatwas handed down by someone else.

Paul uses taught in much the same wayto describe a messagethat had come
from someone else's primary knowledge and was passedalong to him. The
Judaizers had evidently claimedthat Paul lackedauthenticity with his gospel.
He was not part of the originaltwelve disciples, so he had to have gotten his
information second-hand. Consequently, the Judaizers taught, Paul had
missed some important elements; namely, adherence to the ceremoniallaw as
necessaryfor salvation.
We must remember that the church was in her infancy during this stage. Any
kind of huckstercould come along and claim to have knowledge ofthe gospel.
There were no books orleaflets to pass around or historical records to check
or conferences to attend in order to determine whether someone was
authentic. So the Judaizers insisted that their claims were just as valid as
Paul's when it came to the gospel. Only someone with apostolic authority
could correctthe error being thrust upon the Galatians. So we have Paul
insisting that his gospelwas not second-hand.
2. Receivedby revelation
Instead, it was receivedby divine revelation of Jesus Christ. "ForI neither
receivedit from man, nor was I taught it, but I receivedit through a
revelation of Jesus Christ." By the use of the term revelation, Paul was
insisting that his gospelcame from the primary source, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The nature of revelationis that it is a process oran event unveiling that which
had before been hidden. It is an opening up of that which was previously
secret.
In Paul's case, he understood some things about Jesus Christand Christianity,
since he was involved in persecuting the church so vehemently. But he did not
understand the Personand work of Christ, nor the meaning of the gospel, nor
the grace ofGod revealedin the gospel. All of this was foreign to him. Even
more so, it was abominable to him! He had no desire to understand the
gospel. But by God's gracious actin his life, Paul receivedthe gospelthrough
a revelation of Jesus Christ.
I believe we must see this revelation in a two-fold fashion. First, it is a
revelation that came from Christ. We know this from the recordgiven in Acts

nine which describes Paul's conversion. Without any premonition or
warning, a blinding light struck Saul of Tarsus and a voice spoke to him from
out of heaven. "I am Jesus whomyou are persecuting," ourLord told Paul.
In that moment and the hours and days to follow, Jesus Christ revealed
Himself and His saving work to Paul. Ananias did not give Paul this saving
revelation, but it came from Christ Himself. Just as the apostles who followed
Jesus for three years receivedrevelation directly from Christ, so did the
apostle Paul.
The importance of this is found in the matter of authority. Would you believe
someone who had receiveda messagedirectly from a personless than one who
had receivedit second-handed? There is no question that the dynamic of the
messageis affectedby the degree of revelation. This is why we must rely upon
the Word of God, God's revelation to us, for understanding salvation,
Christian growth, the ministry of the church, or anything which God demands
of us. The period of revelation at the beginning of the church through the
apostles was essentialto the life and ministry of every Christian. Revelation
of this nature, i.e. as Scripture, does not continue to occur, for God has given
us the Bible which is the revelation of God to men.
However, since the Bible is a book of God's revelationto men, it can be
understood only on God's terms. Mencan devote their lives to the study of
the Bible, so that they can explain multitudes of its truths, yet never know the
Lord savingly. The Bible is not an impersonal book that is to be lookedupon
like any other greatbook. It is the revelation of God and as such, it canonly
be understood for its greatredemptive declarationwhen God is pleasedto
revealits truth to our sin-darkenedminds. Spiritual truth canonly be
understood through spiritual means (I Cor. 2:6-16). This means that
revelation has another side to it: secondly, it is a revelation of which the
content is the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul receivedthe gospel, "througha
revelation of Jesus Christ," he was implying that the Lord was the very object
of his revelation. He did not understand who Jesus Christ was, eventhough
he surely had heard the crying testimonies of those whom he persecuted.
Jesus Christ, in His glorious Personand saving work, was a mystery to Paul.
Then the Lord opened his eyes and clearlyrevealedHimself to Saul of Tarsus
on the Damascus road. But we must understand that Jesus Christ was not
just a historical figure to Paul. He saw Him as a living Personin all of His
glory as the God-Man, the MediatorbetweenGod and men, and the King at
whose feetwe bow in humble obedience. It was a personalrevelation of

Christ. From that point on, Paul was a different man. It is from that same
point, when Jesus Christ reveals Himself to us as Prophet, Priest, and King in
the revelationof the gospel, that we are different people as well.
II. Strange Ethics
Perhaps we can see this better as we pursue more of what Paul explained in
autobiographicalfashion. He explained why his understanding of the gospel
was so unusual and authoritative. He did this by explaining his rather strange
ethics. "Foryou have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I
used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroyit;
and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among
my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestraltraditions."
The term which he uses for my former manner of life, actually implies his
ethical conduct. It was the way he thought and lived. Let's see how he
describes himself.
1. A check oninterest level
Was Paul interestedin becoming a Christian? How many ways can we say
"no"? Thatwas just his point in verses 13-14. He wanted the Galatians to
understand that there was not one bone in his body that had an interest in
Jesus Christ. He was perfectlysatisfied with his own religious practice and
saw no need for the message ofthe gospel. He was comfortable being zealous
for all of the ancestraltraditions found within Judaism. As Timothy George
expressedit, "There was nothing in his religious backgroundand
preconversionlife that could have in any way prepared him for a positive
response to the gospel" (NAC, 113).
I've heard well-meaning individuals talk of how Paul was under convictionby
the time he was on the Damascusroad. He had seenthe godly Stephen and
others he had persecuted, so that his conscience wassmitten. He was mulling
over the claims of Christianity and came to the place of finally deciding this
was for him. But the text shows otherwise! Paulwas doing everything that he
could to stamp out Christianity and destroy the church. And he was doing it
for the Lord; or at leasthe thought he was. His motives for destruction were

pure in his mind. Becoming a followerof Jesus Christ was the last thing Paul
would have consideredon his own!
Do you realize that none of us are any better off than Paul in that arena? We
do not have inclinations toward godliness apartfrom Christ, insteadwe have
inclinations to run from God. We will battle everything we can to keepfrom
believing (cf. Rom. 3, Eph. 2 for goodexplanations). This is why we need
revelation that is pin-pointed to open our blinded eyes and arouse us from the
stupor of our rebellion againstthe truth of God.
2. An evaluation of practice
Just how did Paul live out his life? What were his "ethics"?
a. passionin life
Just in case there is any question about it, Paul gave a list of his practice in life
prior to the saving revelation of Christ in his life. First up, he used to
persecute the church of God beyond measure. The idea of 'beyond measure'
is that he went to the limits. He was a 100%sort of guy. He did nothing half-
way. In this case, he hunted and pursued (thus the meaning of the Greek for
persecute)those who were part of the body of Christ. Then for goodmeasure,
he said he tried to destroy it [the church]. The term comes from the realm of
soldiers ravaging a city and bringing it to ruin. That was Paul's passionin
life. He would do anything to ravage the little congregations ofbelievers
scatteredthroughout Palestine. This certainly does not sound like a man
contemplating conversion!
b. ambition in life
At the heart of Paul's passionto persecute and destroy the church was his
ambition in life to be the best followerof Judaism possible. "I was advancing
in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being
more extremely zealous for my ancestraltraditions." His advance in Judaism
is described by a word meaning 'one who is blazing a trail'. That was his

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